Lucia Hunt hugged a nun in a Kenyan slum today as she yet again stole the limelight from her Foreign Secretary husband. On what was billed as his 'leadership tour' of African nations ahead of a possible bit to replace Theresa May she showed her empathy by reaching out to embrace the Christian sister as they visited the Kibera informal settlement in Nairobi. They toured the shanty town that is home to around 500,000 people on the sixth and last day of a tour of five counties in which she has seemed to throw herself into a role supporting her ambitious partner. Mr Hunt, who at 52 is 11 years older than his glamorous wife, has been touted as a unity candidate who could heal the badly wounded Conservative Party if he replaces Mrs May when and if she steps down. Mrs Hunt embraces a nun in the Kibera informal settlement in Nairobi, Kenya, on the last of a six-day tour of Africa alongside her husband, the Foreign Secretary The visit to east African nation came at the end of trip which has seen them cross the continent, after vising Senegal, Ghan and Nigeria in the west The Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt went running with blind Kenyan Paralympic athlete Henry Wanyoike while visiting Kenya today The Foreign Secretary visited Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria and Ethiopia before ending up in Kenya on the last leg of his week-long trip to Africa - seen by some as an attempt to position himself as the next prime minister. But when asked by the Press Association if he was posturing as Mrs May's successor, Mr Hunt insisted that he wanted to be a 'great Foreign Secretary' who was seeking to 'recast our relationship with Africa'. Pressed on the question, he said: 'I think there will come a time for all these discussions when Theresa May decides that she wants to step aside but right now I want to support her in getting a Brexit deal through.' During the visit Mr Hunt has frequently unleashed Lucia as his secret weapon. Mrs Hunt has been front and centre on a trip ostensibly to promote British interests, with Mr Hunt speaking strongly on issues including press freedom and security co-operation. But with his wife and the mother of their three children - Jack, Anna and Eleanor - by his side he has been carving out a strong personal profile at a time when it may come in most useful to help him gain the keys to Number 10. Key to this has been Mrs Hunt, born Lucia Guo in Xian, who met her husband through his education publishing business Hotcourses, which he later sold for £14million. She has seemed to fully embrace the photo opportunities on offer this week. While the partners of previous foreign secretaries have accompanied them on official trips abroad in the past the high-profile appearance of Mrs Hunt is more unusual. Today she enjoyed stroking a tortoise at the British Ambassador's residence in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Mrs Hunt glaces at the Foreign Secretary as they board his plane in Accra, Ghana, bound for Nigeria on Tuesday Mrs Hunt joined her husband today in planting a tree at the British embassy in Ethiopia in memory of the victims of the Ethiopian Airlines disaster in March Mr and Mrs Hunt with Foreign Secretary with the British Ambassador to Ethiopia Dr Alistair McPhail during a tree planting ceremony at the British embassy in Ethiopia yesterday Mr and Mrs Hunt (right) aboard a military vessel off the Senegalese capital Dakar in Monday, and (left) at a tree planting ceremony at the British Ambassador's residence in Ethiopia yesterday Yesterday she enjoyed stroking a tortoise at the British Ambassador's residence in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She and her husband also planted trees at the British embassy in Ethiopia, alongside British ambassador Alastair McPhail, in memory of the victims of the Ethiopian Airlines disaster in March. The Foreign Secretary said he was 'devastated' that nine Britons were among the 157 people killed in the crash. Mr Hunt met Lucia at an event in Warwick in 2008 when she was working at the University of Warwick, helping to recruit Chinese students to attend university. Later, he revealed that they 'allowed work and pleasure to mix for a moment' and he asked for her email address. A year later, he proposed to her when they were taking a walk near his parents' home in Shere, in Surrey. They married in Xian after Jeremy asked Lucia's father for permission to wed his daughter and the couple married in a traditional Chinese ceremony. They now have three children: Jack, Anna and Eleanor, and have homes in the leafy upmarket Surrey village of Hambledon and London. Despite his wife being very definitely Chinese, Mr Hunt made a horrific gaffe last year, soon after replacing the error-prone Boris Johnson as the UK's top diplomat. On a visit to China he mistakenly told his hosts that she was was Japanese. Mrs Hunt tries to suppress a laugh as she leaves the Ghana capital Accra during her husband's five-nation tour of Africa Sitting down to talk to the Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi and other officials, Jeremy Hunt attempted to demonstrate his family ties to the country, which were met with laughter when he decided to quickly correct himself. Mr Hunt said: 'My wife is Japanese ... my wife is Chinese. That's a terrible mistake to make. My wife is Chinese and my children are half-Chinese ... they have Chinese grandparents in Xian. And strong family connections in China. In fact we came to China on holiday in April.' After making the mistake, Hunt tweeted: 'Rule #1 as a new Foreign Sec: when reflecting in English with the Chinese on a conversation you had with them in Japanese about your Chinese wife, don't get any of those mixed up! Apologies to the long-suffering Mrs H...' Mrs Hunt shares a joke with Claire Walker, the wife of British High Commissioner to Ghana, as they board a flight to Nigeria in Accra While in Senegal she spoke with Royal Marines stationed there while her husband witnessed a commando exercise Five years ago he publicly stood up for his wife and children during a radio phone in. He expressed his concerns about his 'half-Chinese' children and whether they would be discriminated with the UK's restricted immigration to the country. 'I'd like to make one general point about immigration. My wife is Chinese and she obviously lives with me in London,' he said. 'My children are half Chinese and I do not want them to grow up in a country where people look at immigrants and say it's difficult for me to access NHS services because of people like you.' All rights reserved for this news site dailymail and under his responsibility